Abstract

The Chukotka Autonomous Region of the Russian Federation is inhabited by several Native and non-Native peoples. The Chukchis and Siberian Yupiks constitute the two most numerous Native groups in the region, while ethnic Russians and Ukrainians dominate among the non-Native population. According to the last census of 1989, there were approx. 15,000 Chukchis and 1,700 Yupiks living within Russia. More than 90% of the Yupiks and most of the Chukchis live within the borders of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Some Chukchis also live in the Sakha Republic to the west and in the Magadan Province to the south.
Historically, significant cultural differences developed between the coastal Chukchis and Yupiks in eastern Chukotka (on the Chukchi Peninsula, roughly coinciding with Providenskii and Chukotskii districts) and the tundra or reindeer Chukchi of western Chukotka. Thus, the similarities among coastal Chukchis and Yupiks were often more pronounced than among coastal and reindeer Chukchis. Commensurate with the ethnographic expertise of the authors, our account will focus on the Yupiks and Chukchis of the Chukchi Peninsula and the Chukchis of the Anadyr River Basin (Anadyrskii District).